Known video surveillance and security systems can be installed in facilities, such as an airport, a hospital, a casino, a commercial building, a utility building, a residential home, and the like, and can include hundreds of cameras, most of which are IP cameras. One of the major risks associated with these types of deployments is that they are not safe from unauthorized access. Indeed, known video surveillance and security systems do not manage the passwords of peripheral devices and cameras, thereby leading to weak or no passwords for such devices.
For example, when a video surveillance and security system is installed, it is known for a user to configure IP cameras in the system with a default user name and password, thereby making the commissioning of the system easy and fast. However, it is very easy for an unauthorized person to identify the default password for a camera. Indeed, many user manuals include such details in the public domain.
It is also known for a user to maintain passwords of cameras in a video surveillance and security system in a spreadsheet. However, when such data is lost or goes missing, a user cannot modify the cameras without authentication. Indeed, when a password for a camera is lost, the user must reset the camera, which often results in the camera password reverting to the default password. Furthermore, when password data that is maintained in a spreadsheet is leaked or disclosed, even to an inside threat, a user must reconfigure the cameras in the system with a new password, which is a time intensive process, especially when the system includes hundreds or thousands of cameras. Indeed, changing camera passwords at periodic intervals, even in a preventative manner, is often too time consuming and requires too much user effort to justify doing so.
In view of the above, there is a continuing, ongoing need for improved systems and methods.